Former Cop Admits Lies On Bribery

October 07, 1988|By John Gorman.

A former Chicago police sergeant admitted Thursday that he lied to a federal grand jury to conceal his acceptance of bribes that he later shared with an assistant corporation counsel in a scheme to fix parking tickets.

Joseph Yasak, a former supervisor in the records department at Traffic Court, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge William Hart. Sentencing was set for Nov. 29. He faces a maximum prison sentence of 5 years and a fine of $10,000, according to assistant U.S. Atty. Sheldon Zenner.

Yasak`s partner in the scheme, attorney Norman Vandigo, previously pleaded guilty in the federal government`s Operation Greylord investigation into judicial corruption. A total of 77 persons have been convicted.

Yasak admitted that he lied to the grand jury in 1984 when he said that he never accepted money to arrange for the dismissal of overdue parking tickets.

Yasak later admitted his involvement and provided prosecutors with an 11- page statement in 1986 that gave an inside look at the workings of Traffic Court. In the statement, Yasak said he didn`t know how popular he was until he was transferred to Traffic Court in 1978.

He outlined how parking and traffic tickets were thrown out for bribes ranging from hundreds of dollars to a few bottles of soft drinks or bags of potato chips.

Yasak, a 28-year police veteran, said in the statement that he and Vandigo schemed to take bribes to fix scores of parking tickets for Victor Vrdolyak, then head of AIC Security Investigations and now 10th Ward alderman; numerous Chicago companies; and dozens of fellow police officers. Attempts to reach Vrdolyak for comment Thursday were unsuccessful.

Yasak, 56, detailed how he and Vandigo, now assigned to the corporation counsel`s personal-injury division, split money paid by people seeking to take care of overdue parking tickets. Yasak said that if $500 was paid, he would receive $150 to $200 and Vandigo would keep the rest.

The ticket-fixing scheme began in 1980, Yasak said, when he was supervisor of traffic tickets and accountability in the traffic records section at Traffic Court. Vandigo told him, according to Yasak`s statement, that ``with the cash we could make a little money.``